The Simon Wiesenthal Center
today called upon the Lithuanian government to immediately carry out the
medical examination ordered today by the Vilnius District Court for
indicted Nazi war criminal Kazys Gimzauskas, who failed to appear for
the opening of his trial yesterday for medical reasons. Gimzauskas is
charged with handing Jews over to Lithuanian murder squads during World
War II.

In a statement issued in Vilnius, where he is attending
the trial on behalf of the Wiesenthal Center, Israel director Dr. Efraim
Zuroff said:

"Today we see the results of five years of
procrastination by the Lithuanian judicial authorities who knew of
Gimzauskas‘ presence in the country since 1993, but took no steps
against him until recently.

The failure to prosecute Lithuanian Nazi murderers
continues to hang like a dark shadow over this country which refuses to
confront its bloody past."